HUMANITIES
CHARACTER PROJECT
“MEETING OF THE MINDS”
Bates Updated 9-3-12
PART 2
COSTUME RESEARCH AND PLAN
HOW TO IDENTIFY EXPERT SOURCES AND HOW TO ANNOTATE
A SOURCE
See the handout titled " Annotated Works Cited Instructions" under the
Research Resources tab on the class web site. There, you will get instructions
for how to assess whether or not a source is a primary source, an expert
secondary source, or a “junky” source. Once you have read that handout, here
are some tips specific to the character project assignment.
FINDING PRIMARY AND EXPERT SECONDARY SOURCES IN
COSTUME RESEARCH
Here is a discussion of how to research costumes using two types of sources:
primary and expert secondary.
If you can, try to find paintings or sculptures done of your character while she
or he was alive.
For costume research, you may not be able to find primary sources, which are
items that belonged to your character, but you are getting close if you can find
images or art work (painting, sculpture, mosaics, textiles) and actual clothing,
shoes, and jewelry from the time period and location of your character.
Be careful not to use art work from centuries after your character’s time period.
Many artists, for instance, painted King Arthur or ancient Greeks hundreds of
years after their actual time periods, and they superimposed the fashions of
their own times over the images of the historical characters. Alas, they may
not have done any research at all.
MORE COSTUME RESEARCH EXPERT SECONDARY SOURCES
For costume research, other expert secondary sources would be academic
researchers, professional costume designers, etc., who tell you what they think
people dressed like during your time period. This is second-hand information,
so the validity of it depends almost entirely on the authority and rigor of the
researcher.
Books are better resources, but web sites can often direct you to some great
books.
At the end of this document are some web sites that might help you get started.
HOW TO FORMAT YOUR COSTUME RESEARCH & PLAN
Look at the rubric, please. Read it! It is at the end of this document.
Remember, this is research on the authentic clothing for your character’s time,
place, and station in life (see research tips above), so the information does not
have to be specific to your exact character. Later, after doing the research, you
recreate something accurate for your own costume. Costumes should reflect
the authentic clothing of the person, but do not spend a lot of money.
JUST DON’T DO IT:
 Don’t use paintings, sculptures, etc., by artists who are not contemporaries
of your character. More often than not, they layered current fashions and
romantic notions over the reality. More times than not, they had very little
historically accurate information at their disposal and, frankly, didn’t really
care about accuracy. Sculptors, painters, and engravers were not always
historians, so check carefully before you assume your artist is one of the
few who actually were painting your character while s/he sat in front of the
artist in real time.
 Don’t use web sites. Period. Okay, I’ve changed my mind. Out of a few
hundred possible web sites, one or two might be okay, but that’s because
they used books as their sources, so find those sources to use for your
costume plan (and don’t forget to cite your best expert print source in
MLA format and annotate them). If you find a good web site (and, okay,
there are some), you still must thoroughly research the author until you are
satisfied that the information is usable.
 Don’t use Halloween costume sites, Costumes-R-Us type companies, your
uncle who loves the King Arthur tales, the Renaissance Festival, the
Medieval Festival, or some lady who sews in Iowa and say her costumes
are authentic. Puh-leeze. That’s just lazy. If the Renaissance Festival says
their costumes are authentic, they may be, but what are their sources? Use
those.
JUST DO IT:
 Use correct MLA formatting. Use Easybib.com as a reference. See the
handout titled "Annotated Works Cited Instructions" for a sample
annotated works cited page.
 Use primary sources such as work by artists who were contemporaries of
your character. You still need to cross-reference their art with an academic
source, but if your character actually sat for the artist or lived nearby,
chances are the depiction is more accurate. That is, unless the artist was
painting the person with romantic notions from that era’s past (e.g.
painting Queen Elizabeth I in Mary, Mother of Jesus garb in an attempt to
make her look holy). You see how this works.
 Use books. Out of a few hundred possible books, a few may not be
trustworthy, but your chances are much, much, much better with a book
than a web site. If you haven’t been to the library (the best for you –
Salem or Canton H.S., EMU, Madonna for Christian characters), you
haven’t got a clue what you’re missing and how paltry, irresponsible, and
inaccurate many web sources are by comparison.
 If there isn’t an image out there that you can color photocopy, you may use
portions from different images and cobble them together on the page
(citing each source, of course). You may draw if your only helpful
information is text-based, but you to thoroughly quote the academic text
you are using to create your image.
 Draw arrows to every single essential item with an historical description
(quoted from source) if you have one.
 Lastly, don’t forget to annotate one expert print source. Who is your
authority? Where and when is he or she writing? What are his or her
sources? Is he or she diligent, responsible, and objective? Does the
information jibe with your other trustworthy sources? See handout titled
"Annotated Works Cited Instructions" for a detailed discussion of how to
annotate a source.
TIPS FOR FINDING GOOD COSTUME SOURCES IN LIBRARIES
 The Salem and Canton High School libraries have collected a number of
costume design resources specifically to help you with this project. We
recommend you start there first.
 Look at the web sites listed at the end of this document. Ms. Bates
collected a list of some sites that appear helpful. They may also have
references to other books and resources. This list is definitely not
exhaustive, so use it as a starting point.
 For costume sources, EMU and U of M have excellent libraries and may be
your only reasonable sources. EMU’s is easier to navigate and parking is
easier. You don’t have to be a student at either university to use the
facilities or ask for a librarian’s help.
 Every year there are more and more digital resources that are only
available by subscription. Our school libraries have paid for password
access to a number of biography, history, and humanities academic
databases. Ask them for assistance.
List of costume web sites is attached (see below).
COSTUME WEB SITES: SOURCES OF PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY INFORMATION
User beware. Do not assume that every piece of information on every site is
good just because the site is listed here. Do not assume that this is an
exhaustive list: it’s just a start. Judge each piece of information with
skepticism and do research into the source’s claims. Ms. Bates and Mr. Read
collected these sites quickly a few years ago and judged them on a surface
level, so you are still responsible for carefully checking them out!
Here are links to six books on fashion. The first five are from a five volume set called
"Encyclopedia of Fashion Costume and Culture."
Encyclopedia Of Fashion Costume & Culture - Vol 1 (The Ancient World)
http://cerebus300.com/docs/fashion/fashion-ancient-world.pdf
Encyclopedia Of Fashion Costume & Culture - Vol 2 (Early Cultures Across the Globe)
http://cerebus300.com/docs/fashion/fashion-early-cultures-across-gobe.pdf
Encyclopedia Of Fashion Costume & Culture - Vol 3 (European Culture - Renaissance to
Modern Era)
http://cerebus300.com/docs/fashion/fashion-european-renaissance-modern.pdf
Encyclopedia Of Fashion Costume & Culture - Vol 4 (Modern World 1900-1945)
http://cerebus300.com/docs/fashion/fashion-modern-1900-1945.pdf
Encyclopedia Of Fashion Costume & Culture - Vol 5 (Modern World 1946-2003)
http://cerebus300.com/docs/fashion/fashion-modern-1946-2003.pdf
And a separate volume on medieval fashion:
http://cerebus300.com/docs/fashion/medieval-fashions.pdf
Here are some more options:
http://www.costumepage.org/
THE COSTUME PAGE: Historical costuming; links to great resources (books and web
sites)
http://www.costumesocietyamerica.com/
THE COSTUME SOCIETY OF AMERICA: a scholarly organization with info and links
to costume books available on Amazon.com
http://marquise.de/index.html
LA COUTURIERE PARISIENNE COSTUME AND FASHION SITE: period costume
from the Middle Ages to 20th c.
http://www.milieux.com/costume/
THE COSTUME SITE: links to historical costume sites (scroll down)
http://www.costumesociety.org.uk/newstuff/Links/links.html
THE COSTUME SOCIETY (UK): Useful info plus links to museums with costume
information on line
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/history.html
THE HISTORY OF COSTUME: based on a German book from the Victorian era; covers
world history (read helpful annotation on home page for limitations of the site)
http://www.library.ubc.ca/finearts/COSTUME.html
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA LIBRARY: excellent list of web resources in
costuming (e.g. footwear of the middle ages; history of the kimono)
http://www.multcolib.org/homework/costumhc.html
MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OREGON, LIBRARY RESOURCES PAGE: some great links
to fashion by century and culture
http://www.marquise.de/webring/sitelist.html
COSTUME WEB RING: page lists all sites on the web ring with brief descriptions; some
will be good and some not (a good one: a 16th c. German seamstress’ dress diary)
http://www.longago.com/
VINTAGE HOUSE: costuming patterns from ancient times to recent
http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/viktunic.html
VIKING TUNIC CONSTRUCTION: detailed with drawings; includes lengthy
bibliography at end
http://www.brotherguido.com/Greatkilt/Default.htm
HOW TO WRAP AND WEAR A GREAT KILT: as site says, just instructions but not a
“study”
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/4715/costume/shoes.html
EARLY MEDIEVAL IRISH SHOES
http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOEHOME.HTM
FOOTWEAR OF THE MIDDLE AGES
http://www.straw.com/sig/dyehist.html
DYE HISTORY FROM 2600 BC to 20th CENTURY
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/articles/cotton.html
COTTON IN THE MIDDLE AGES
http://www.arachne.com/
GUIDE TO 16th and 17th CENTURY LACES
http://www.cooperhewitt.org/COLLECTIONS/textiles.asp
TEXTILES COLLECTIONS FROM THE COOPER-HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN
MUSEUM
http://www.textilemuseum.org/
WASHINGTON, D.C. TEXTILES MUSEUM (exhibits change regularly)
SAMPLE COSTUME PLANS
(Eagleton 46)
(Eagleton 19)
(Eagleton 20-21)
(Eagleton 84)
(Eagleton 84)
COSTUME REPRODUCTION PLAN
Actual outfit worn as a
result of this costume
reproduction plan.
TEACHER COMMENTS:
What is this costume plan missing? It needs
parenthetical citations next to each image and
text box. Sample parenthetical citations can be found
on the Hypatia example earlier in this document.
E
The diminutive Catherine began feeling insecure in regards to facing the ‘splendid’
French Court. In desperation, she sought the aid of an ingenious Florentine
artisan...her cobbler. He produced a creation that would cast a spell over the entire
French nation when he removed the clunky wooden soles from Catherine's shoes and
replaced it with a slender padded four-inch heel.
Teacher comments:
This plan forgot to mention hair,
shoes, jewelry, etc. Notice how
the letter codes are used to
connect each article of clothing
to a specific plan to reproduce it.
Actual costume sewn and worn can be seen
on the next page.
NAME ________________________________
CHARACTER NAME _______________
TEACHER ________
HOUR ________
CHARACTER BIRTH YEAR _____________
CHARACTER PROJECT RUBRIC FOR COSTUME RESEARCH & PLAN
(ATTACH TO FRONT)
PAGE ONE: IMAGE OF HISTORICALLY ACCURATE CLOTHING
GENERAL
____/1 Rubric attached as first item in stapled packet and labeled at top; all three pages of document are typed
____/2 Student name, teacher, and hour and name of character are typewritten, single-spaced, at the top righthand corner of the first page
IMAGE
____/5 Image is of one full-length outfit, including headwear, hair style, neckline, front of torso, waist, legs,
hemline, footwear, undergarments, jewelry, and weaponry
____/5 Image is of a) character’s actual clothing in a museum, b) clothing worn by a person of similar status and
era in a museum, c) a portrait or sculpture of the person or someone similar from his or her era, d) an image
of the person or someone similar from a professional clothing history or costuming text (in descending
order of preference)
____/1 No images of Halloween costumes, items from shopping web sites, images from films, or modern clothing
(e.g., tube socks or driving gloves)
____/2 Colors of each part of the costume are clearly shown in image or indicated in text
____/2 Details are clearly visible and not too small, distorted, pixelized, or blurry
____/1 All extraneous illustrations and text are removed from image; only the clothing and character’s face or
hands, if visible, are pasted on a full length sheet of paper; white space is left around the costume for text;
clothing is not obscured by text
TEXT
____/5 Direct quotes in quotation marks (positioned next to each part of the body with lines drawn to the
corresponding parts) describe full-length outfit, including headwear, hair style, neckline, front of torso,
waist, legs, hemline, footwear, undergarments, jewelry, and weaponry
PARENTHETICAL CITATION
____/6 All aspects of the clothing page – quotes and images – are labeled with correctly formatted parenthetical
citation that corresponds to the source in the works cited page; includes only the last name of the author
and page number in parentheses (no comma, second authors, or web site URLs)
SUBTOTAL
__________ /
30
MECHANICS DEDUCTION
(ONE POINT PER ERROR)
MINUS ____
FINAL TOTAL
__________ /
30
PAGE TWO: ANNOTATED WORKS CITED PAGE
QUALITY OF SOURCES
___/2
Mimimum one expert source; must be a print source
___/1
All sources are expert sources. When making an exception to use a non-expert source, an
explanation is given in a brief annotation. Exceptions are only made for sources of small
images like shoes when they absolutely cannot be found in an expert source.
MLA CITATION AND FORMAT
____/4
double-spaced header in upper left corner: name, teacher/class/hour, date
centered title immediately after header in 12 point font (not underlined, bold, or capitalized)
printed single-sided (not double-sided)
pages numbered in upper right corner with last name and page number (no comma)
____/4
every effort has been made to include an author, editor, and publisher
titles of large sources like books are italicized; titles of small sources like images are in quotes
correct order of information in citation
correct punctuation in citation
“web site” is spelled as two words; word “bias” is used correctly (NO: “This source is bias.”
YES: “There is bias in this source because...” YES: “This source appears biased because….”)
___/3
first line of each citation at left
all lines after first line of citation indented
annotation begins immediately after citation
one-inch margins for the entire document
___/2
all sources, whether annotated or not, are in alphabetical order
all lines double-spaced with no extra space between entries
MLA ANNOTATION FOR ONE BEST EXPERT SOURCE
___/2
no Internet sources are used unless they have a clearly identifiable author or publisher
no Wikipedia except for authentic images whose origins can be verified
___/12 All requirements for annotations are included for each annotated source:
why this is/is not an expert source (expert background of author, publisher, etc.)
assessment of bias (lense through which author views the topic); uses word “bias” correctly
specifically which kinds of information came from the source
why you know this particular picture or description is authentic and accurate
how this source was most useful for your work (be specific about info you used)
how this source was least useful for your work (be specific about what was missing)
where/how information was found (name of library, web search, etc.)
SUBTOTAL
MECHANICS DEDUCTION
(ONE POINT PER ERROR)
FINAL TOTAL
__________ / 30
MINUS ____
__________ / 30
PAGE THREE: COSTUME REPRODUCTION PLAN
____/5 Listing each major and minor portion of the costume, include a brief explanation of how you
might re-create the costume for your performance: general silhouette, style of collar, sleeve,
waistline, hem length, accessories, hairstyle, shoes, socks
____/3 Plan accurately reflects the clothing your character wore
____/1 Plan costs little or no money
____/1 Plan makes use of found objects around the house and/or borrowed items
SUBTOTAL
MECHANICS DEDUCTION
(ONE POINT PER ERROR)
FINAL TOTAL
__________ / 10
MINUS ____
__________ / 10